Shore Staff

Afternoon Tea at the Largest Flower Show in the World

At Cunard we are proud of our relationship with our guests and partners. We work in partnership with many well known and respected brands such as Fortnum & Mason, Twinings, The Prince’s Trust and, most recently The RHS (Royal Horticultural Society). Which brings us to the largest flower show in the world at Hampton Court Palace this week.

The 2011 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show opened on 4 July with a glittering preview evening and we are delighted to be present throughout the week with The Palace Tea Rooms in association with Cunard. The magnificent Hampton Court Palace, the Long Water, the beautiful gardens and a host of quintessential British traditions are providing us with the perfect setting for visitors to enjoy a relaxing break and afternoon tea.

Gardening has long been a favourite past time for our Cunard guests and the world’s largest flower show was the ideal event to showcase our new partnership with The RHS. We are grateful to the organisers for coordinating the fireworks display around The Palace Tea Rooms!

During the day the judging of the gardens took place, in time for the show opening in the evening. Here are some of the deserving winners and some interesting displays:

The first 2 days of the show are dedicated to RHS members and we were glad to see so many Cunard guests amongst them. We spoke to many of you at our stand, where visitors can enter the competition to win a voyage on board Queen Elizabeth. No wonder our stand has been so popular….

Many of you may wonder why we are associated with The Palace Tea Rooms instead of a garden. The Tea Rooms offers one of our signature traditions - afternoon tea, served with sandwiches, scones, cakes and even champagne for the Sparkling Afternoon Treat! It proved very popular, with some previous guests commenting that they almost felt like they were at sea, with the stunning location alongside the Long Water.
Along with the beautiful gardens, there is so much more to see, including the edible garden, food stalls, shopping and some rather photogenic ducks…

If you are coming to the show this week, we’d love to see you, and you may even win a voyage on Queen Elizabeth!

Peter, I love Cunard and all of the traditions, we have sailed on QM2 may times since 2005 and most recently the complete World Voyage 2011 (the World Voyage Dinner in Auckland was absolutely FIRST CLASS!!!). I do hope the inspection reports on the tea rooms faired beter than those of the QM2 during her recent failure of her US Inspection. I was most disappoined to hear this news, but after experienceing the decline of the greatest ocean liner first hand, I must admit, I was not surprised. I do hope that you have taken the necessary steps to correct this tragic situation, I also hope she will be brought back to her great splendor during her upcoming refit which is desperately needed. Please do not let her continue to decline and keep her as grand as the day she was built. Remember Cunard might be owned by Carnival – but they are Cunard ships and not Carnival ships and should reflect such. Your efforts to reflect Cunard in a positive light are commendable, however, it would be wise to address this issue to reassure all of your loyal customers and to assure the continued return of your “bread and butter” customers from the US and the UK! Cheers!

Dear Peter I am Also Very Fond of Cunard Of witch i have Sailed % times now When I was Last on the Queen Mary 2 Dec 19 2010 I noticed a LOT of Carpets that needed to be REPLACED in Guest Hall Ways
And the Floor that you walk on in the mail Lobby Headed towards the Main restaurant Bertinia to also Include the Restraunt Has SOFT SPOTS IN THE FLOOR that you walk in like a Whole in the floor. This is a HUGE
concern of mine and SHOULD be to YOU Also. Also the COFFEE was a LOT BETTER in Earlier Cunard Years LONG LIVE CUNARD AND GOD BLESS YOU